Embodied: Human Figures in Art

The human form has been depicted in art for the past 40,000 years—over 30,000 years before the first known cities and written languages were developed. The universal impulse across time and culture to draw, paint, sculpt, and adapt our likenesses lies in art’s power to help us understand ourselves and our relationships to each other. Drawn from the Museum’s global collections, Embodied: Human Figures in Art addresses some of the countless motivations behind the artworks that depict our bodies and the garments that augment them. This exhibition features works from four continents that span nearly 4,000 years, and through themes including power, beauty, identity, gender, and remembrance, examines how representations of people in art allow us to explore what it means to be human.  
Embodied: Human Figures in Art will be on view on Floor 2 and is the first of many reimagined permanent collection displays that will transform how guests experience art inside the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.